No Easy Answers to Sluggish Growth

Bernanke, others offer explanations but no magic bullet to bring down unemployment.

Does the U.S. economy suffer from a severe but curable condition? In that case, what is the best prescription to nurse it back to health? Or is the U.S. economy in a state of decline that has been disguised by the aggressive treatment it has received, which is beginning to show negative side-effects?

That crucial question is being addressed by a number of thinkers who have come to radically different conclusions.